THE HISTORIC address of the House of Commons by Volodymyr Zelensky has been hailed by south Worcestershire’s MPs.
West Worcestershire’s Harriett Baldwin and Mid Worcestershire’s Nigel Huddleston all spoke to the Observer to reflect on the Ukranian President’s act of defiance from his war-ravaged country.’.
Mr Zelensky was given a standing ovation by MPs both before and after his speech in which he compared Ukraine’s fight against Russia to Britain’s Second World War struggle against Nazi Germany.
Drawing on Churchill’s iconic ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ wartime address in June 1940, he said Ukrainians will fight against Moscow’s forces on land, sea and in the air.
Mr Zelenskyy said: ‘We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight to the end, at sea, in the air, we will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost.
‘We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.’
He said Ukraine was fighting a ‘war that we didn’t start and we didn’t want’ as he told MPs ‘we do not want to lose what we have, what is ours’.
Mrs Baldwin said: “The whole of Parliament is resolute in its support for the Ukrainian people and I felt a historic atmosphere in the chamber of the House of Commons when President Zelenskyy made his unprecedented address to Parliamentarians.
“This is a terrible conflict and I’m proud to stand in support of our friend and ally in the face of the Russian President’s evil and illegal invasion.
“Our Government is acting swiftly to help both the Ukrainian army and the people fleeing from conflict and I hope and pray that the global communities reaction to this crisis persuades Putin to withdraw his troops immediately,” she added.
“It was an honour to be in the packed chamber of the House of Commons, as we listened to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address,” Mr Huddleston said.
“As the Prime Minister said at the time, never before in all our centuries of parliamentary democracy has the House listened to such an address.
“It was a powerful and moving speech, and our government is determined to continue supporting our Ukrainian friends with the weapons they need to defend their homeland,” he added.
